Sunday, January 20, 2008

January 15, 2008: Brunetti IX

Update 27/1/2019: Brunetti is still trading, but has moved from Faraday Street into a huge custom-built space inside Lygon Court.

After spending two weeks in regional Victoria with her sisters, my Mum had one last free night in Melbourne before flying back home to Brisbane. It was about time we introduced her to Brunetti, right? Two of her sisters, Lynne and Carol, also joined us. They are an indecisive bunch when gathered together and the variety available at Brunetti was the catalyst for a good 20 minutes of umm-ing and aah-ing. But everyone got their coffee, cake and seat in good time.

I picked a cake that I haven't seen displayed before. The Domino ($5.90) is a sizable slice of chocolate cake, layered with strawberry cream and kirsch, then iced with chocolate. It far exceeded my expectations - I was anticipating a dense brick of a cake with impenetrably hard icing, but instead encountered a yielding ganache and almost sponge-light cake that retained plenty of flavour. The cream and kirsch were sparing, adding only a smidge of extra richness. It's fortunate that I arranged to share it with Michael - I would otherwise have consumed all of its deceptive lightness and been rather sorry afterwards. It's still a triple-layered chocolate cake, after all.

Want to read about our previous 8 visits to Brunetti? They're all here.

6 comments:

  1. Cute cake - have never noticed it at brunettis before - but there are just so many cakes to choose from - were your mum and aunts impressed? I hope so!

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  2. I saw this cake the last time I was at Brunetti too. I was hesitant to get it because I thought the same as you, that it would be an ultra dense cake with those generic long lasting icing. Next time I will try it.

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  3. For the most part I've been disappointed by Brunetti's sweet oferrings but this sounds lovely.

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  4. Johanna, my Mum and aunts were definitely impressed! It seems that we only visit Brunetti when we have interstate guests to show it off to. :-)

    Thanh, I hope you have a chance to try it but I suspect they mustn't make it often. I even returned to Brunetti less than a week later and it wasn't there!

    Cin, my Brunetti experiences have definitely been hit and miss too, I'm learning to choose carefully. :-)

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  5. Brunetti's used to be excellent til the late 90's but i've been disappointed with cakes tasting like wet cardboard too often to give them another chance - i'd rather bake my own now!

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  6. My first visit to Brunetti was in 2005, so I haven't seen it during its glory days!

    I think that they offer so many different things that they're not always at their freshest - as I said, I've had hits and misses and I now choose carefully.

    I too usually prefer to bake my own but only when I have friends to share it with - the temptation of an entire cake for the two of us is a bit much for me. :-)

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